Rays fall into AL East cellar with 5-3 loss to Orioles

BALTIMORE (AP) - Very little went right for the Tampa Bay Rays during their first road trip of the season.

And so, after two defeats and a rainout, the Rays headed home from Camden Yards looking to rebound from a wasted weekend in Baltimore.

Tampa Bay struck out 12 times and stranded nine runners Sunday in a 5-3 loss to the Orioles that dropped the Rays into the AL East cellar.

Not that anyone's panicking.

"It's really early in the season," said Corey Dickerson, who hit a solo homer. "Once everyone gets clicking, everything will be good."

The series started with Rays star pitcher Chris Archer giving up four homers in a 6-1 loss Friday night. Cold, wet weather led to a postponement on Saturday, and in the series finale, the Rays fell behind 4-0 in the second inning and couldn't recover.

Manny Machado went 4 for 4 with a homer for Baltimore, the lone remaining unbeaten team in the majors.

The 5-0 start matches the 1970 team for the best in Orioles history.

"It's still early. You don't win a championship in April, but you definitely do learn to play as a team," Machado said. "We're going to continue to do that, hopefully."

Vance Worley gave up three runs over 4 2/3 innings in his Orioles' debut and the bullpen blanked the Rays on one hit the rest of the way. Brad Brach (1-0) entered in the fifth and Zach Britton worked a perfect ninth for his second save.

South Korean outfielder Hyun Soo Kim made his major league debut for Baltimore, starting in left field and batting ninth. He got two infield hits and went 2 for 3 before being lifted for a pinch runner in the seventh inning.

It's been a tough transition for Kim, who struggled in spring training and was the last position player on the Orioles to get in a game during the regular season.

"I was slightly concerned the team might lose today with me in it," Kim said through an interpreter. "So to make sure that didn't happen, I tried my best."

Down 4-3, Tampa Bay loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth against Darren O'Day before pinch hitter Hank Conger whiffed on the sidearmer's 33rd pitch of the inning.

Machado doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the bottom half.

Baltimore went up 4-0 in the second inning. Pedro Alvarez beat out a grounder — his first hit with the Orioles — and scored on a double by Jonathan Schoop. After rookie Joey Rickard delivered a sacrifice fly, Machado hit his second homer of the season on a 1-2 pitch from Jake Odorizzi (0-1).

Odorizzi settled down, but the damage was done.

"When you have one bad inning and give up four runs, then have five solid innings it is kind of hard to complain," Cash said.

Dickerson homered in the fourth to make it 4-1 and extend the Rays' club-record streak of games with a longball to 20.

Tampa Bay used two-out RBI singles by Evan Longoria and Steve Pearce to chase Worley in the fifth.

HELLO AGAIN

Pearce played his first game in Camden Yards since signing as a free agent with Tampa Bay during the offseason. He spent the previous three seasons with Baltimore, and was a key contributor to the 2014 squad that went to the ALCS.